Occasional Invaders
Occasional Invaders are those insects that usually live outside but occasionally come inside your home in search of food or water or more comfortable temperatures. Once inside they often can’t find their way back outside.
Some common occasional invaders are crickets, silverfish, weevils, dobsonflies, beetles, earwigs, millipedes, centipedes and stinkbugs. Some are harmless while others are destructive. Ladybugs are highly beneficial to the environment and your garden, while the silverfish can destroy books, clothing, and dry foods.
Mostly these creatures are a nuisance but some will bite you and your pets, some will invade your food, eat fabrics and carpet, and leave waste behind. Also, other bugs and creatures who like to eat these invaders will follow them inside in search of an insect meal.
Entry: Pests enter your home through small openings, open windows and doors, and even on humans and pets.
Do-it-yourself Effectiveness: Sealing cracks and crevices with caulking and installing functional weather stripping to reduce the entry points is important. Outside it is important to move dead leaves, yard clippings and water sources away from the house, and avoid planting shrubbery next to the house. Inside it is important to vacuum and dust regularly and discard of the canister contents away from the house.
Centipede
Size 2″-6” Color Brown Description The Centipede has a long body with multiple sections. Each section has a pair of legs. Most species found in the U.S are about 2” long. A Texas species can be up to 6” long and is more colorful. Centipedes in tropical areas of the world can grow much longer more »
Cricket
Size 3/4”-1 1/2” Color Brown with Black Description Crickets are generally brown with black strips across the head and have long, thin antenna. Their bodies are rather flat, allowing them to hide in small spaces for protection. House crickets are about 3/4” long while field crickets can be more than 1” long. Crickets generally live more »
Dobsonfly
Size up to 5” Color Brown Description The adult Dobsonfly is a large, winged insect that grows up to 5” long with long antennae and pinchers. They are nocturnal and attracted to bright lights found near waterways. The adults on live only seven days, usually long enough to mate, then the female lays her eggs more »
Earwig
Size 1/4”-1” Color Brown Description Earwigs are brown and grow to about 1” in length with long antennae on their heads and pinchers protruding from the back of their abdomen, possibly confusing predators as to which end is the head. Although they have wings, they rarely fly. They often live clustered together in large groups more »
Elm Leaf Beetle
Size 1/4” Color Green and black Description The Elm Leaf Beetle is green with black stripes on the sides and feeds on Elm tree leaves. Females lay rows of eggs on the undersides of leaves. The young hatch and begin feeding right away. The Elm Leaf Beetle eats the leaves of the Elm tree, destroying more »
Firebrat
Size 1/4″-1/2” Color Grayish-brown Description The Firebrat has a grayish-brown, blotchy body that is wider at the front and tapers toward the rear. It has two antennae on its head that are as long as its body and three extensions from the rear that may also be very long. The Firebrat is a type of more »
Ground Beetle
Size 1/4” Color Black Description The Ground Beetle has thin legs and thin antenna on a head that is smaller than its body. There are more than 2000 species of Ground Beetles in North America and most are shiny black while some are an iridescent color. Females lay their eggs in the ground and the more »
Horntail
Size 1″ Color Dark brown with yellow Description The Horntail is a small, non-stinging wasp with a long body. The female Horntail has a long appendage from the posterior of its abdomen called an ovipositor. Since we’re used to thinking of wasps as stinging pests it is common to think it is a stinger. The more »
House Centipede
Size up to 2″ Color Yellowish-brown Description The House Centipede has a long body with three bands of darker color running down its back. It has two antennae, up to 15 pairs of long delicate legs, and two appendages from the back of its abdomen, making it difficult to tell the head from the rear. more »
Jerusalem Cricket
Size 1 1/4”-2” Color Brown with Black Description Jerusalem Crickets have a round, brown head and a brown and black striped abdomen and is also known as the “Potato Bug”. It has two dark, beady eyes behind two antennae. The Jerusalem Cricket is nocturnal and mostly lives underground. Its large muscular head helps it dig more »
Ladybug
Size 1/4″ Color Red, orange, or yellow with black Description The ladybug is a beetle with a rounded body, short legs and antennae. Most Ladybugs have red, orange, or yellow wings with black spots. When at rest their colorful, spotted wings cover their round body. Ladybugs are voracious eaters and most feed on plant harming more »
Leaf-footed Bug
Size Up to 1 1/2” Color Light to dark brown Description The Leaf-footed Bug can be identified by its leaf shaped back legs. Its body is flat with a white or yellowish band across its back. Female Leaf-footed Bugs lay eggs under places like plant leaves and tree bark, where their young can begin feeding more »
Millipede
Size up to 4″ Color Dark brown Description The Millipede is dark brown, nearly black, with a long multi-segmented body. It has a broad, rounded head with two short antennae, and numerous pairs of short legs, with two pairs of legs on each body segment. Most millipedes are about 2” long but can grow larger. more »
Mole Cricket
Size 1 1/4”-2” Color Reddish-brown with black Description Mole Crickets are easily identified by their two paddle-shaped front legs that help it dig and swim. They have a long body with dark beady eyes and wings. Mole Crickets live underground and are active mostly at night when they eat insects and plants, causing extensive damage more »
Pillbug
Size 1/4”-1/2″ Color Dark gray Description The Pillbug is actually not a bug but a crustacean that has adapted to living on land. It has an oval shaped body with a segmented, armor-like shell, two pairs of antennae and seven pairs of legs that are nearly hidden by its shell. Many people also call them more »
Plaster Beetle
Size 1/16″ Color Reddish brown to black Description Plaster Beetle adults are very small, hard shelled beetles with a segmented body. It has an oval shaped abdomen and a pair of antennae on its head. Plaster Beetles are good flyers and are drawn to any place where moisture provides a breeding ground for mold. They more »
Psocid
Size 3/16” Color Cream to pale white Description Psocids are small, with soft bodies, a bulbous nose, and slim antennae. Most Psocids have wings and live on trees, shrubs, or under stones where they feed on fungus, mold, pollen, and decaying organic matter. They do not harm plants but may become a nuisance in their more »
Silverfish
Size 1/4″-1” Color Grey Description The Silverfish has a shiny grey body that is wider at the front and tapers toward the rear. It has two antennae on its head that are as long as its body and three extensions from the rear that may also be very long. Silverfish feed on foods that are more »
Slug & Snail
Size Varies Color Brown, gray, yellow, black Description Slugs and Snails are mollusks that move by flexing a muscular foot on the bottom of their soft bodies. Their foot secretes a slime that dries, leaving behind a silvery trail wherever they’ve been. They have two pairs of antennae on their heads. Their eyes are at more »
Sowbug
Size 1/4”-1/2″ Color Slate gray Description The Sowbug is a crustacean that has adapted to living on land. It has an oval shaped body with a segmented, hard shell, two pairs of antennae and seven pairs of legs that are nearly hidden by its armor-like shell. Sowbugs also have two short, tail-like appendages that project more »
Springtail
Size 1/16” Color Gray or black Description Springtails are tiny grey to black insects that live in very wet soil and feed on fungus and molds. It gets its name from its ability to leap when disturbed, using its long tail like appendage to propel it out of the way of potential predators. Because of more »
Stink Bug
Size 3/4″ Color Brown, grey, green Description Stinkbugs are primarily a garden pest where they gather on fruits and vegetables to feed. Their mouths are designed to pierce the skin of fruits and vegetables to get to the tender parts inside. Stinkbugs have hard shells on their back to provide protection from predators. Variations in more »
Stonefly
Size up to 2” Color Brown to black Description The Stonefly is a larger water insect with two pair of wings that it folds flat against its body when at rest. It has three pairs of legs with a claw on the ends, a pair of long, thin antennae and two tail-like appendages at the more »
Strawberry Root Weevil
Size 1/4″ Color Dark brown to black Description The Strawberry Root Weevil has an oval shaped body with legs a lighter shade than its body. Its smaller head has two antennae. Strawberry Root Weevil larvae are white and their bodies curve in a crescent shape. There are many kinds of plants that Strawberry Root Weevils more »
Mayfly
Size up to 1 1/4” Color Varies Description The Mayfly is a small insect with two pairs of wings, a pair of antennae, and three very long appendages from the rear of its abdomen. Colors vary by species, but most are almost translucent wings with pale to dark brown bodies. Some have iridescent colors on more »
Clover Mite
Size Tiny (pinhead) Color Reddish-brown Description Clover mites are tiny eight legged mites that feed on the sap of clover, grasses and other outdoor plants. They breed rapidly and in large numbers can be destructive to outdoor foliage. Clover mites prefer living outdoors but will seek indoor shelter in cooler temperatures. The adults are smaller more »
Amphipod
Size 1/4″-1” Color Varies Description The Amphipod is a flat bodied crustacean. There are over 7,000 species and those on land live in very wet conditions like well-watered lawns, gardens, ponds and landscape water features, saucers under potted plants, or any place else that water collects. On land, Amphipods burrow into overly wet sand, mud, more »
Black Vine Weevil
Size 1/2″ Color Dark grey to black Description The Black Vine Weevil is a small, dark weevil with an oval shaped body with a smaller, snout-like head with a pair of antennae. The larvae are about 5/8” long, white and crescent shaped. There are over 100 different kinds of plants that Black Vine Weevils feed more »
Caddisfly
Size up to 1” Color Brown to black Description The Caddisfly is a small, winged insect that lives and breeds near freshwater streams and lakes. The Caddisfly is closely related to butterflies and moths and may be mistaken for a moth. Adults have two pair of wings and a pair of antennae that can be more »
Box Elder Bug
Size up to 1 1/2” Color Black with red Description The Box Elder Bug is small black bug with a long oval body and small head with a pair of antennae and distinctive orange or red lines on its back. Nymphs are about 1/16” and after hatching they are bright red. Box Elder Bugs overwinter more »
Japanese Beetle
Size 1/2” Color Copper and green Description The Japanese Beetle begins life in your lawn or in nearby grasslands where the white larvae eat the grass roots. The adult has a copper body with a green head and lives 1-2 years if food is available. When mature the adult Japanese Beetle flies in search of more »
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